The first test match between South Africa and India delivered an exciting showdown that captivated everyone. India, aiming to secure their first-ever series victory on South African soil, will have to wait for another opportunity to make it happen.
Both sides showed remarkable tenacity and resolve throughout the first two days of the test match, which ended prematurely. Nevertheless, South Africa emerged victorious in a thrilling match on the third day.
The first-innings batting performance from India was both promising and challenging. Kagiso Rabada and Nandre Burger, the South African bowling combo, presented a strong challenge with five and three wickets, respectively, but KL Rahul’s remarkable century demonstrated his batting brilliance. India lost key wickets at crucial points, which caused them to lose their innings at 245 runs.
South Africa’s batting was on point as a counter, largely thanks to Dean Elgar. South Africa scored 408 because of Elgar’s 185 and solid performances by David Bedingham and Marco Jansen. The Proteas’ tenacity shone through as they controlled the game, even though Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were the faces of India’s bowling assault.
Speaking about India’s bowling strategy, former head coach Ravi Shastri expressed his belief that the team management made a crucial error that had significant consequences. Specifically, Shastri pointed out a moment when Rohit Sharma opted to bring Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna into the attack on day 2 after lunch. According to Shastri, this decision was a mistake. He argued that it would have been wiser to start with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj immediately after the break, as India ended up conceding too many runs during that phase. This, in turn, allowed the Proteas to gain momentum in the game.
“On any pecking order, these two (Shardul and Prasidh) would have been the last to start the proceedings (after lunch). That’s something that we’ve had a discussion multiple times when I was the coach. And more often than not we decided to go with the best two bowlers at the start of the session. If you cast your mind back, India would feel they have missed a massive trick in the first half hour of play. Two bowlers they started with, that tactically was a big mistake,” said Shastri during commentary on Star Sports.
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